Please join Sentara and the Williamsburg, Virginia, community in welcoming Dr. Amber Price as the new President & CEO of Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center. Dr. Price discusses her path to Sentara, how Covid-19 has impacted healthcare, how the patient care model is evolving, and how SWRMC is serving the greater Williamsburg community.
my name is Amber Price. I am the president at Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center. I started in this community as a nurse. I was an O. D. U. Student um and started in Newport News, then moved to the northern neck and worked in rural healthcare and moved to Richmond and worked in academia, eventually ending in for profit, which brought me to Nashville Tennessee as chief operating officer. And I'm happy to come back to the community where I began um and I'm happy to be here. Well, I started as a nurse. My passion has always been vulnerable patient population, so pediatrics, women, infants and rural health care. I did my training in new Zealand in rural health care and worked in Virginia in rural communities, making sure that the most vulnerable got the care that they deserved and needed. Um It has brought me to a place today where I'm building infrastructure around that, where community care with focus on those who need it most is our priority. I think the message of Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center is loud and clear. We are known for the phenomenal patient care in our facility. We have a staff that's been here for many, many years. We just celebrated many anniversaries here were vested in the care of this community, We passionately care about this community and we want to be the provider of choice for this community um and we invite our physicians into partner in that with us and to grow with us in the future. We've traditionally approached healthcare with the mindset of the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have done unto you. But we're shifting that a little bit. We're looking at this more like the platinum rule which means do unto others as they want done unto them. And it means that we're slowing down to listen. It means that we're working on individualizing the care policies, support individualized choices and what happens when we do that is that outcomes are better, patients are happier with their care. Um and we're having better conversations that helps us learn what is important to the folks in this community. Well health care is always evolving based on the needs of the community, but covid really changed the way we do things. Lots of things that were inpatient have moved out patients. So there's a lot of focus in figuring out what needs to stay out patient and where patients are better served with outpatient services versus inpatient services. The second thing that we learned to rely on was technology. So there's a big focus on figuring out what smart technology we can incorporate in our care that not only improves the care of the patient but helps take some of the burden off the staff for their time. And then the third thing we're looking at is what bedside care is going to look like. We want to make sure that our nurses are focused on optimal patient care and that all the support services they need are provided to them as well. So we're restructuring the way that looks as well. Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center provides phenomenal care to our community and it is a comprehensive care model were tied into a very large network that can offer us immediate support in many different ways, including transportation to really high level centers that give care that is just not available in our community. But the focus of this hospital is to make sure that we are well positioned to help people stay in this community. So the vision for Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center is to make sure that all of our services level up. Um the goal is for you to stay here. The goal is to provide phenomenal care in our community whenever possible. So look for some changes coming your way that help us provide that.
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